Thirty-six hours into what was expected to be a 70-hour assault on an all-time world record, and with hundreds of lives to spare, someone unplugged a cabinet elsewhere in the arcade, resetting the Q*bert George Leutz was playing.

We're not sure what Leutz said, but it probably sounded like @!#?@!

Playing at Richie Knucklez in Flemington, N.J., Leutz had rolled up a reported 16.8 million points, about halfway short of the 33,273,520 set in 1983 by Canada's Rob Gerhardt. Leutz was looking strong to take down the record, getting a note of encouragement from Warren Davis, the designer and programmer of the arcade classic. "I'm in his corner all the way," Davis told Arcade Game Examiner. "Thanks, George, for keeping the spirit of Q*bert alive!"